Reading body language and facial cues is a very important skill that can often have personal safety implications.

Recently my wife and I have become quite enchanted by the TV show The Mentalist, whose lead character is a high IQ fellow assisting a police homicide squad peopled by model beautiful cops (well, it is in California ) Amongst his skills is the ability to read body language and facial cues very well.

I've always wanted to watch The Mentalist and Lie to Me (forum member ponytots reco'd Lie to Me on the Movies/TV thread)... alas, no time to watch TV. However, coincidentally Mrs. Stickgrappler is watching a Hong Kong TVB crime drama called "Every Move You Make".

Every Move You Make is a 2010 Hong Kong police procedural television serial drama produced by TVB. ... In the show, Senior Inspector Yiu Hok-sum (Bowie Lam) and his colleagues of West Kowloon Police Headquarter's CID unit use the Facial Action Coding System, body language study, microexpression interpretations, and applied psychology to solve and assist in criminal investigations.

Synopsis

Crime Unit Senior Inspector, YIU HOK-SUM (Bowie Lam) has learnt his mind reading skills overseas. He is efficient and, by far, the most competent cop in his unit. He is able to analyze and read people’s minds just by observing their body language, facial expressions and from the tone of voice. In addition, he is also highly skilled when spotting disparities in testimonies and evidence.

Sound familiar? I didn't make the connection as I haven't watched The Mentalist nor Lie to Me until reading your post.

There was an episode where a female impersonated a male to throw the police off when she went to an ATM. The camera caught her checking out her fingernails. Men generally curl their fingers up almost balling into a fist and would check their fingernails that way. Women would splay out their fingers and admire their nails. I was surprised when Sr Inspector Yiu revealed that tidbit as it was true! I was walking by and caught that scene. Intriguing! Now I gotta make time to watch Lie to Me LOL

"A good stickgrappler has good stick skills, good grappling, and good stickgrappling and can keep track of all three simultaneously. This is a good trick and can be quite effective." - Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny

Every person on a homicide squad being gorgeous or handsome? Offices with the feng shui of a SF decorator? In Sacramento? Only interesting cases involving famous people? All the physical takedowns of perps being executed by the babe cops? and crooked captain bars too! Oh no!

Where the show really shines for me is the character of the lead actor and his interaction with a script with plenty of wit that regularly communicates the appeal of high IQ.

In the context that it is fiction and it is television, I like the show. There were shows about psychics doing similar work. In this case he denies extraordinary powers, just heightened awareness with good humor. Like the Harry Potter plots, the good guys have to constantly stray near the edges of the rules to find justice. Just doing your job correctly doesn't fill the seats.

There were movies such as Pacific Heights about tenants from hell. As a landlord I found zero entertainment value, nothing original and could turn it off and walk away at any point in a so-called thriller plot. If I were in law enforcement, the last decade or two of cop shows might not be what I would watch for laughs after work. But it is where the rest of us get our information about LE.